Song of the Caged Bird
by Dark Phoenixa
Summary: As Ezra Fitz now works as a college professor at Hollis, Aria is still a student in high school. You would think that these two would finally bond more when the teacher-student status quo would change, but no it didn't for these two. With all the drama going on in Rosewood, a sudden driving wedge starts to split Aria and Ezra's relationship apart. Who will claim Aria as they split?
1. Breaking Bad

**Disclaimer: Please note that I do not own Pretty Little Liars. This work is not intended for profit. This work is intended only for entertainment and for something to read in between releasing episodes of Pretty Little Liars. Enjoy the final season of Pretty Little Liars, which is season 7.**

 **Warning: This content contains sexual, mature, and intense themes.**

 **Author's note: By the way, there's a lot of time jumping and references back to different episodes of Pretty Little Liars. Also, I will make my own references.**

 **Chapter 1: Breaking Bad**

"Hey, Aria. How are things between you and Ezra?" Spencer asked me as I sat on her couch, staring blankly into the seemingly invisible void in the fire that was crackling away and eating away at the walnut wood logs that were slowly disintegrating as time passed minute by minute, hour by hour.

"Me and Ezra?" I mumbled. "Oh, they're fine." Actually, things weren't okay between me and Ezra. Recently we had an argument about our relationship, and what harm coming out to my parents was doing to our relationship. The after effects were rather corrosive. Our relationships had its ups and downs. Sometimes our relationship got unexpected kicks, and we definitely suffered the repercussions. My dad still struggled to accept us, but my Mom had slowly come around, for she'd seen how much I admired him, and how he was always there for me when my parents weren't.

"Oh, really," Hanna remarked dryly. "I feel like you're not telling the truth. We came over to Spencer's to have a good time, but you've been kind of a downer. It's strange to see you like this. It's like a different nature to you to us because you're not acting like yourself. For Heaven's sake, you've been staring at the fireplace for the past two hours and have said nothing to us. I feel like that there's something going on inside that pretty little head of yours."

"Hanna," Emily snapped as she looked up from watching NETFLIX on her computer with her blue SONY headphones on. I giggled inwardly, not knowing how Emily was able to hear all of what Hanna had just said, for she liked to listen to anything on headphones at a loud volume in order to block noise. "Mind your manners. That was kind of rude calling Aria a downer. I'm pretty sure Aria's just tired. After all, it is 11:43 at night."

"You're right. I'm sorry Aria for being rude. That was just unnecessary of me. I didn't mean to hurt you in any way," Hanna said, trying to make up for her words.

"It's fine really," I yawned and curled up into a tight little ball in my chair. I was so tired according to Emily's correct point. I wanted to go to sleep with my headphones on and forget about my troubles and problems with Ezra and our relationship. I just wanted everything to go the way I wanted to. I was beginning to get tired of having to constantly keep my relationship with Ezra together. We were different and similar to each other but really didn't know each other too well in depth. We didn't have that kind of relationship with each other the way I had with my tight-knit friends just waiting for the next attack from A.

"Looks like someone's tired. Maybe we should all go to bed and get some sleep. We do have a test in English tomorrow," Spencer said. I groaned inwardly when Spencer said that. I had no idea how I was going to deal with Ezra after our huge argument today. I was right in our conversation and railed against him, yet I was so angry and mad at him that I wonder if this will stay like this for a while. I don't want me and Ezra be on bad terms like this.

"Good idea, Spence," Emily said, taking off her headphones and pausing whatever she was watching. She turned off her laptop and put away her stuff. "I'll see you guys tomorrow unless any news from A shows up."

"Bye, Em," I said, looking up from my knees. "See you tomorrow." After Emily left, I decided that I should get going home. I bade my friends goodbye and left Spencer's house. Unfortunately, I had to walk home since I didn't have my car with me. I walked to Spencer's house from the Brew. I knew it wasn't the smartest idea then, and now here I was, walking home in the dark, cold. As I was heading home, I didn't notice a car driving next to me at a safe distance, so that I didn't feel like I was being stalked.

"Aria!" a familiar voice said in the dark of the night.

"Hi, Jason," I said meekly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and turning around to face him as he stopped his car.

"I'm glad I ran into you at the right time. I was just finishing up work and closing up my workplace," Jason said. "Could I give you a ride home?"

"Please," I smiled, "that would be great. I just need to let my Mom know that I'm on my way home." I got into his car and buckled my seatbelt. As I was digging through my purse for my phone, I noticed something or of the corner of my eye. I saw a black car with two very familiar looking people just sitting there in a nearby street. "Hang a second. Jason, isn't that Garrett's car?"

"Uh… yeah. Yeah, that's definitely his car for sure. Why? Are you worried?" Jason asked me, notifying how I tensed up and froze.

"Oh, my God. Jason, they've been following you around town, watching Spencer, Emily, Hanna and God know who else," my eyes widened as I made sudden connections between everything that's been said about Jenna and Garrett. "Now they're just sitting there watching us talk. They're really creepy, strange and definitely stalking people. Can we just get out of here, please?"

"Yeah, hang a second," Jason said as he got out of the car.

"Jason, where are you going?" I asked him. "Oh, hell no. You're so not doing that." I got out of the car and followed him to Garrett and Jenna. "Jason, no. Please don't. It's not worth it. Come on. Let's just get out of here. Jason!" I growled angrily as Jason didn't listen to me and reached Garrett's car.

Jason tapped on the window of Garrett's side of the car. Garrett looked up and rolled down the window. "Hey, Jason," Garrett said casually as if he hadn't done anything wrong. "How are you doing? Why are you out this late at night?"

As Jason was talking to Garrett, I texted my Mom to let her know that I was on my way.

"I would ask you the same thing. I'm fine. I just ran into Aria walking home alone shivering in the dark, so I was going to give her a ride home except she noticed you stalking us. She says that you've been stalking her and her friends, so I suggest that you get lost before you hurt someone," Jason replied. "Oh, and Jenna?"

"Yes, Jason?" Jenna asked, looking up from eating cherries and lining the pits in a row on the dashboard of the car.

"Please don't hurt Aria or her friends. If you mess with her or her friends, you will have to get through me first. If you want to hurt someone to get your revenge on what Alison did to you, go hurt someone else and not be Alison. This town doesn't need more drama than it already has," Jason said. Turning to Garrett, he said, "Should I be concerned you two are romantically involved with each other? Oh, wait. Never mind. As Toby may have told me, you are romantically involved with each other according to Spencer, my half-sister."

I think my jaw dropped on the floor when I heard Jason say that he and Spencer were half-siblings. That would explain why Spencer was acting strangely in the past couple of days. She was desperately avoiding her parents and trying to talk to Jason about her parents' and his parents' family tree and matrimony. All the questions she was asking us were really weird and strange, but it wasn't unusual that Spencer was asking all those questions. After all, Spencer is a Hastings.

"How'd you know all that? You weren't supposed to know. We were just going on about our business," Garrett tried to avoid Jason's remarks.

"Oh, really? Aria and her friends have told me all about the times that you two seem to have been stalking them," Jason sneered coldly. "Is that what you call 'business', Garrett? Are you still some part of the NAT club? Never mind. Don't answer that. I don't want to know. You two are weird, interlopers and just as perverted as Ian."

"Jason, let's go," I said, tugging at his arm. "My Mom's going to be wondering where I am if I don't show up at the house in the next fifteen minutes."

Jason sighed in annoyance that he didn't get to finish his message.

"Jason, I think they got your message. Just don't be so condescending and cold to them. Now you're on their radar. I suggest that you should stop while you're at it so that you don't annoy them any further," I said exasperatedly. "You should get in your car and drive me home so that my Mom doesn't worry where I am. I'll be with you in a minute."

Jason gave me one blank look that I couldn't read. I'll bet that on the inside, he was saying, "Fine, just hurry the hell up." I stared at him as he grudgingly trudged back over to his car across the street and got in. "I'm really sorry about that. He's been going through a lot, trying to process that Spencer is his half-sister. If he's caused you any-."

"Aria, it's okay. You don't need to worry. I-we understand. When the truth comes out, it can be hard to process and take in. I mean… I'd be a bit surprised and upset if I was put in that kind of situation. I'd be hurt, betrayed and angry at the parent who cheated," Garrett cut me off.

"O-okay. See you around town," I said and walked back to Jason's car. I got in and buckled my seatbelt. Jason put the car into drive mode and drove me home to my house. We drove in silence, not wanting to talk about what happened tonight with Jenna and Garrett. I would have to tell my best friends about tonight tomorrow. I didn't want to think about it and my friends' reactions to tonight.

We reached my house several minutes later. Jason pulled up in front of my house and parked in front of the driveway. I thanked him for the ride home and got out to walk up the stone pathway to the front porch.

"Aria," Jason said, stopping me in my tracks.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

"If Jenna and Garrett are still bothering you and your friends after tonight, let me know, and I'll deal with them. Garrett isn't usually annoying, but he can very nosy sometimes," Jason said.

"Oh, okay," I said before disappearing up the pathway to the front porch. I unlocked the front door, and before I entered the house I glanced back at Jason and flashed a smile at him. I entered the house and gently closed the front door behind me. I didn't want to wake anyone up, so I got out my phone and texted my Mom to let her know that I got home safely. My phone beeped a few seconds later. I checked it.

 _Okay, straight to bed, sweetheart. Love you. Have a good sleep. Xoxo - Mom_

I headed up the stairs to my room. I changed into pyjamas and brushed my teeth. I got into bed and fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow.

 **Author's Note: I'm really sorry that I haven't posted anything in a long time. I've had a bad case of writer's block. My story writing has been on and off. My writing seems to be better on paper because my creativity and writing flow** seem **to be a lot faster, and I don't have a hiatus on writing stories like I do on PC. I really don't know how to continue Love Is Just A Four Letter Word (Remastered Edition). My creativity flow on that story has just stopped because that story is sort of just the last year me. I don't know if I want to continue that story or not. Please leave comments and reviews on that story. As for this story, Song of the Caged Bird, I will be continuing it because I have an idea of what it's supposed to be like. I'm not a huge fan of the pairing of Ezra and Aria (Ezria) together. I like Jason and Aria together because Jason is sexy as Hell. As per usual, I would love feedback on this story. I would prefer constructive criticism rather than mean comments. That's all!**

 **~Nerdwhizz**


	2. When You Keep Me in the Dark

**Disclaimer: Please note that I do not own Pretty Little Liars. This work is not intended for profit. This work is intended only for entertainment.**

 **Warning: This content contains sexual, mature, and intense themes.**

 **Author's note: By the way, there's a lot of time jumping and references back to different episodes of Pretty Little Liars. Also, I will make my own references.**

 **Chapter 2: When You Keep Me in the Dark…**

I awoke the next day to my alarm clock. I rolled over onto my side and checked what time it was. The time on my digital alarm clock read 9:45 AM. Crap. I was going to be late for school. My alarm clock must have gone off this morning, and I didn't hear it. I jumped out of bed and got dressed in a cute white dress with patterns of kittens on it with a black ribbon belt sewed to it. I put on a pair of tan, strappy wedges. I hastily put on my jacket. I grabbed my phone, purse, car and house keys, and book bag. I dashed down the stairs to the front hallway. I left the house and ran down the pathway leading to the front porch. I got in my car and drove to school.

I hurried to my second period. I pushed open the door of the classroom and took my seat in the back. Luckily for me, the teacher was out printing copies of a packet we were supposed to complete for tonight's homework. When my second period was over, I hurriedly packed up my stuff and ran out of the classroom to the cafeteria. I got a snack from the cafeteria which consisted of a blueberry bagel and strawberry cream cheese. Alongside that, I chose orange juice to drink. With my snack in hand, I searched for my friends. Looking out the cafeteria windows, I saw Spencer, Hanna, and Emily sitting at a table outside. I hurried over to them and sat down.

"Hey, Aria," Spencer said as I sat down next to Hanna.

It was now or never. My friends had to know about Jason, Garrett, and Jenna. I had to tell them no matter what the consequences were. I mean A is watching every single move, every single decision we make, and listening to every word we say. Anything we do, A rats us out for it.

"On my way home from Spencer's last night, I saw Jason. He offered to give me a ride home. Just as I was getting in his car and texting my Mom to let her know that I would be home soon, out of the corner of my eye I saw Jenna and Garrett sitting in Garrett's car. They were watching me and Jason. It was so creepy that I freaked out. Jason asked me what was wrong, seeing how tense I was, and how I froze at the first sight of the two together. I told him what was going on with them. No, I didn't tell him everything. In response, Jason talked to Garrett and Jenna. He rubbed the fact that Spencer's his half-sister in their faces. He also told them that if they ever hurt us, they would have to go through him first. I'll admit that it was sweet of him to be protective of me, us, but I think he just rattled the cage of two hungry dragons," I decided to drop the bomb, and let it explode.

"What!" Spencer was outraged. "Aria, how could you! I wasn't ready to tell you guys!"

"Spencer, didn't Toby tell you that he saw Jenna and Garrett sitting in Garrett's car before, and Jenna was eating cherries and lining them up on the dashboard of Garrett's car in a row side-by-side with even spaces between the pits?" I asked her, realising something about the relevance of last night.

"Uh, yes. Why?" Spencer asked, suddenly curious as to why I'd asked the question.

"I… um… this may sound incredulous, but I think that Jenna can see," I hesitated at the moment to tell of what I thought what was a possibility that never occurred to me last night. "Seriously, I think that she can see. She wasn't playing blind last night. She was lining those cherry pits in a row side-by-side with perfect spaces in between the pits. It was as if she could see, which I may think is a possibility."

"Wow, now I'm totally ready to hang a sign saying 'bitch can see'," Hanna bit her lip in a sudden, adamant anger.

"Whoa, Hanna. Let's just try to process what Aria's told us first, and then we can make an attempt to make some conclusions. There's got to be a way that this isn't real," Emily spoke up.

"Oh, wait. Didn't Jenna get surgery for her eyes recently?" Hanna asked.

"Uh… yeah. She did. Toby drove her to the surgery," Spencer said. "I heard that she took off the bandages. Toby told me that she said that could see clearly in a different way, but the surgery didn't fix her eyes apparently."

"God. Imagine if Jenna could see again. Imagine what she could do to us with all four senses. I mean she can navigate with just four senses. I don't what she would do to us if she were to be able to see. Would she go as far as to kill us for what we did? We were Alison's accomplices of the crime that she blackmailed Toby into taking the fall for us," Hanna said, biting her nails.

"Hanna, your nails. I thought you cared about them and didn't you just get them done a few days ago?" I asked her, trying to break Hanna out of a possible habit she could get herself into that's really bad for her nails.

"Aria, you're changing the subject," Emily said.

"Sorry, guys. I just worry about all of this. This being what we're going through at the time with breakups, strained relationships left, right, and centre. We have to stay together in order to survive A's attacks against us. That with the additional drama that we really don't need," I apologised.

"Right. Like you have to me remind of the time when I went through a hard time with Toby and I breaking up over the fact that Toby was A at some point. I was a wreck, and I suffered a lot. I don't want to be reminded of that time. I just want to move on, and be happy with the fact that Toby and I have made up and are back together now," Spencer glared at me.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I'm reminding everyone what's at stake here. We need to be careful because A has eyes everywhere. Toby is one of many pairs of eyes that A has that we don't know about. Who knows what? Maybe Jenna and Garrett are a couple of A's eyes. Maybe that's why we've been seeing them everywhere. Maybe or of course they're spying on us for A," I said.

"Okay, I don't want to think about this stuff right now. As much as we are being kept in the dark and second-guessing everything, I'm getting tired of this, so I'm going to rest my brain from thinking of A constantly," Emily said.

"Is there any news in school that we can talk about that's not concerning people we have to worry about?" Hanna asked us.

"Not that I know of," Spencer said.

"I heard that there's a new girl on the swim team. I haven't met her yet. I want to see what she's like. I heard that she's really good," Emily said.

"Have we seen her at all this morning?" Hanna asked.

"Actually, I think that we have. There was this girl seated in the back of history that we haven't seen before," Spencer answered.

As I listened to Spencer's description of the girl in the back of history class, I looked around us to see if I could find the girl that we were talking about. For a brief moment, I thought that I saw a girl pacing atop the roof of the cafeteria building. I shook my head to clear it and looked back at the cafeteria roof to see a girl of the exact description that Spencer had provided us with.

"Girl pacing on top of cafeteria roof. Look now while she's still there," I jerked my head in the direction of the girl. I stared at the girl. She noticed my friends and I staring at her as she ate her snack, which was the same as mine, except she had water instead of orange juice.

The girl very much resembled the description that Spencer had provided. Her lush, chocolatey dark brown hair was neatly, but loosely curled cascading down her shoulders to her hips. She wore an army green crop top that had a halter neckline, dark-wash skinny jeans tucked into black suede, knee-high, block-heel boots. A simple sterling silver chain with an amethyst-purple crystal pendant adorned her neck. A simple sterling silver Celtic knot ring that glinted in the sunlight adorned her left ring finger. Her makeup was rather minimal, not too blown out full face; smokey eyes, full eyebrows, rosy cheeks, and full, pouty pink lips.

"Why the Hell is she there?" Hanna asked.

"I don't know. Go ask her yourself, Han," I shrugged through a mouthful of bagel and cream cheese.

"Okay, I think I will go do that," Hanna said as she stood up from the conjoined table and bench.

"Han, I didn't really mean that!" I called after her. "I only said that to make you shut up. Don't bother her. I don't think she'll appreciate you bothering her." When Hanna didn't respond, I got up from the table and walked over to her. "Han, seriously don't."

"It's fine, Aria," the girl said, peering down at me through long, thick, curled, voluminous, dark lashes every girl would die/kill for. "I'm fine by Hanna asking me why I'm up here. The reason why I'm up here is that I discovered the ladder that goes up here. I'm assuming that most students don't know about this spot except for Noel Kahn and maybe a few other dodo heads who don't know any better than to sneak off to hang out on top of the school building."

I blinked in surprise. How did this girl know my name? Was she behind the darkness of the hooded A that watched our every move, and blackmailed us to get what s/he wanted? I took a step back nervously wondering who the hell this girl was, and how she knew my name and my friends' names.

"Who are you?" were the first words I uttered to the girl. "What's your name?"

"My name is Rhiannon Shera-Raelynn. I'm new here. I just moved to Rosewood a few days ago. My parents are still unpacking our stuff. My Mum's a teacher here at Rosewood, and my dad is a police officer. Don't worry. He's not crooked or a dirty cop like Wilden. My seven older brothers and I are seniors here. Their names are Hayden, Dominic, Gabriel, Sebastian, Donovan, Brandon, and Salvatore. You'll run into them a lot because they're always hanging around each other. Unfortunately, they're all gay, so that means that there are more boys in my house than girls. My Mom and I are the only girls in my family. I wish I had a sister or had more friends that are girls rather than boys," the girl answered pulling a face when mentioning Wilden's name.

"Interesting," I laughed. "Why don't you come on down from the rood, and come to hang out with my friends and I?"

"Okay, I guess," Rhiannon shrugged. She grabbed her bag, and literally jumped off the roof. She landed on her feet, bending her knees to lessen the shock impact. The weirdest thing about the landing was that you could literally not hear her feet as she landed on the ground. Her landing was as graceful as a cat landing successfully on its feet after jumping out of a tree.

I walked back over to Spencer and Emily with Hanna and Rhiannon in tow. I sat down and picked up my bagel. I saw Rhiannon standing close to us, but leaning against the wall of the nearby hallway.

"Rhiannon, come to sit with us," I said. "Hanna, scoot."

Hanna reluctantly moved over, so that Rhiannon could sit down. Rhiannon just sat next to Hanna, biting the inside of her cheek nervously.

"Rhiannon, where did you move from?" I asked her, attempting to make conversation.

"I actually moved from Sydney, Australia. I've lived there my entire life until just a few days ago. That's where my accent is from anyway," Rhiannon answered. "We lived in a super touristy district of Sydney, Australia, so there's a lot of tourist traffic. My parents moved us to Rosewood for some reason. I guess it was just that this town is quite small and quieter than having to live near a noisy and tourist-filled district of Sydney, Australia."

"Where are you living currently in Rosewood?" Emily asked.

"Oh, I don't know. It's close to the DiLaurentis house. I'll admit that the house doesn't seem very welcoming. I saw the guy who lives there. It's Jason, right?" Rhiannon answered.

"How do you know our names, and what's been going on?" Spencer asked.

"I've done my research. I researched enough to know about the homicides of Ian Thomas, Garrett Reynolds, Maya St Germain, and Darren Wilden," she pulled another face when mentioning Wilden's name.

"Why do you make a face every time you mention Wilden's name or hear his name being said?" I asked.

"Hon, that's a question that I'd rather not answer, but I'm pretty sure that we all have our own reasons why we hate Wilden at this table," Rhiannon laughed off my question like the question was a speck of dust on her crop top.

Before we could ask her any more questions, or talk to her any further, the bell rang, signalling the end of brunch. We stood up to go to class, throwing our trash away as we did so. I stared after Rhiannon as she walked over to a group of boys that were hanging around near us.

"Let's get to class, boys. We don't want to be late. Do we?" Rhiannon teased her brothers as they all walked away together.

"Yes, sister dear," her brothers chorused as one.

I tore my gaze away from her and headed off to the bathroom before having to go to my dreaded English class. I didn't want to face Ezra after the massive argument that we had a couple of days ago. Deep down, I knew that what Ezra had said made a point, but I was right in our argument. I sat on the toilet thinking about what I was going to say if Ezra asked me to stay after class. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't notice what was going on the outside of the bathroom stall. I finished and flushed the toilet only to realise that the entire bathroom floor was starting to flood. I tried to open the stall door but found it locked. Who the Hell locked it, and how did it get locked?

"Let me out! Someone help me!" I shrieked in fear of being trapped in the bathroom. I pounded on the door and screamed for help all along praying silently that someone would hear me.

Several moments later, I heard the bathroom door being flung open, and slam shut. Feet scurried across the slippery floor. I heard the water taps being turned off. A few seconds later something was pried off the stall door, and the door swung open to reveal Rhiannon standing before me with a crowbar in hand.

"Thank, God. You heard me. Thank you so much," I whimpered.

"You're welcome," Rhiannon said. "No, I didn't lock you in."

"Where were you when you heard me?" I asked her, lip trembling as if I were shivering from the coldness of a snow day.

"I was on my way to English when I heard screams from the girl's bathroom, so I ran inside to find that the bathroom floor was flooded. I turned off the water faucets and turned around to find the person who was screaming. That's when I noticed the crowbar wedged in the door handle of one of the stall doors. I have it now, and you're free," Rhiannon said, biting her lip anxiously. "My question is who in the bloody Hell locked you in there, and why?"

"My question exactly," I agreed with her question. "Why the crowbar though?"

"That was my next question," Rhiannon laughed. "I'm going to run down to Vice Principal Hackett, and tell him about this incident. Hopefully, we will catch the person who did this and get them expelled. I'm going to also have to tell my dad so that this doesn't happen again to another student. Will you be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said, starting to recover from the frightening incident.

"Will you tell Mr Fitz that I'll be a few minutes late? Tell him that I'm reporting an incident in this school to Vice Principal Hackett," Rhiannon asked me.

My jaw dropped when I realised that Rhiannon was in my English class. Having Rhiannon in English was going to be fun. Besides, I didn't dread English anymore now that Rhiannon was in my class. It's definitely nice to have another person I know to talk to in class besides Hanna, Emily, and Spencer.

"Of course," I smiled happily at the epiphany. "I'll see you in a few minutes. I'll tell E-Mr Fitz that you'll be a few minutes late."

"Au revoir," she said and hurried out of the bathroom.

I left the bathroom and hurried to English before the bell rang. I ran into class just before the bell rang. Instead of going straight to my seat, I stopped at Ezra's desk.

"Mr Fitz?" I forced myself to say.

"Hi, Aria. Shouldn't you be in your seat? You should be in your seat when the bell rings. I don't want to have to give you detention for not being on time and not prepared," Ezra smiled at me.

"Um… actually, Rhiannon is going to be a few minutes late. She's just reporting an incident to the office," I said.

"Oh, are you okay?" Ezra asked me.

"I'm okay I guess. I'm just recovering from being claustrophobic whilst being locked in a bathroom stall while the bathroom floor was flooding," I let the incident slip through my mouth. "Someone locked me in the bathroom stall with a crowbar, and no. It wasn't Rhiannon. She was the one who got me out of the bathroom."

"Stay after class, and we'll talk," Ezra said.

"Okay," I sighed and headed over to my seat. I sat down and started getting out my materials for class.

"Where were you?" Emily asked me.

"Yeah, where were you?" Spencer chimed in.

"You're usually not late to class. What happened?" Hanna asked me.

"A happened," I said realising who locked me in the bathroom in the first place.

"What?!" all of my friends exclaimed. "How?"

"I guess locking me in a small bathroom stall, and flooding the bathroom floor was A's way of telling me to shut my mouth," I sighed. "I guess I shouldn't have said anything to you guys about last night."

"The bathroom stall doors don't lock from the outside. How was A able to lock you in the bathroom stall?" Spencer asked me.

"A wedged a crowbar in the door handle," I answered briefly.

"What the fucking Hell?" Emily snapped. We all jumped at her tone and sat there at our desks gawking at her. "What?"

"You swore rather heavily. We only use bitch or hell," Hanna said as she straightened her sunglasses that rested upon her head.

"I'm sorry that I lost my temper. I just can't believe that A put Aria in the same situation Hanna was in recently. I can't believe A wedged a crowbar in the handle of the door from outside. I remember when Spencer was locked in that room in the-what was it- the funhouse or something like that? A wedged a crowbar in the foot of the door," Emily apologised.

"Ugh. Don't remind me about that time. I totally fell for A's trap. I thought A was Toby then. I should have known that the number wasn't Toby's. I totally fell for him because I loved him," Spencer groaned.

The bell rang while we were talking, and by then, Rhiannon hadn't returned. Ezra started the lesson by talking about the chapters in _The Glass Castle_ by Jeannette Walls he had us read and annotate for homework. When half the period had passed, I began to worry where Rhiannon was, and if she was okay. Before I could worry anymore, the door flew open and slammed shut as Rhiannon entered the classroom.

"Miss Shera-Raelynn, I'm afraid I'm going to give you detention for being late," Ezra said as he looked up from grading some papers from other classes while we did independent work.

"I'm sorry. First off, I have a pass, and secondly, I was just reporting an incident to VP Hackett about someone being locked in the bathroom stall, and the bathroom floor is flooded," Rhiannon huffed irritably, slamming a hall pass on Ezra's desk in a hurried rush. "I'll take the detention."

"Miss Shera-Raelynn, I'm still going to give you a detention instead of marking you cutting class. When you're half an hour late to class, it is considered a cut, but since you do have a reason and a hall pass explaining why you're late, I will let you off the hook just this once," Ezra said.

"Yes, Mr Fitz. I understand," Rhiannon said and walked over to her desk sitting down.

I wanted to pass a note to Rhiannon asking why she took a long time. I quietly tore a little section of paper from my handout of paraphrasing quotes from _The Glass Castle_ , written by Jeannette Walls.

 _Why did you take a while? You said you'd be only a few minutes late to class. In fact, you're 33 minutes late to class, and that's almost 35 minutes!_ I wrote on the paper.

I folded the note and asked the boy to my left to pass the note to Rhiannon. He complied, and simply snuck the note onto her desk. I saw Rhiannon pick up the note, and unfold it to read what it said. I saw her scribble down an answer on the back of the note when she was done with reading my note. The boy handed back the note to me. I unfolded it to read Rhiannon's message.

 _Everything took longer than I expected. Vice Principal Hackett asked me a lot of questions about the whole incident which I was expecting. However, my dad took longer to question me. He asked me all sorts of questions which indeed drove me nuts, but not insane. Ugh, the joys of having a cop for one's father. Sorry about that if I ever did make you worried about me._

I folded the note and left it on my desk as I returned to resume silent independent work. The rest of the period flew by rather naturally. When the bell rang, I packed up my stuff and waited for everyone to leave. When everyone left, I walked over to Ezra's desk to talk to him.

"You said you wanted to talk to me when I came into class," I said as Ezra prepared for his next class by getting out the necessary materials to teach the next class.

"Ah, yes," Ezra said looking up from stacking the independent work he'd collected from us at the end of class, and putting a binder clip on the thick stack of papers. "When you came into class, I was a bit surprised that you were slightly late to class. When you let information about an incident you were in, I was concerned. I don't want to sound rude or anything, but would you please mind telling me what exactly happened?"

"Ugh, fine," I sighed, and told him exactly what went down in the bathroom including the reason that Rhiannon was late to class today.

"Wow, I'm sorry that happened. I'm glad Rhiannon was there to help you. Are you still okay after what happened?" Ezra asked me. I saw an affectionate gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah, I think I'll be alright, but for now, I think I'll definitely avoid situations like that," I said. "I don't have much time to talk right now because I need to get to my next class, but can I see you after school at your apartment?"

"Of course," Ezra said, and returned to getting materials ready for his next class. "Bye, Aria."

I bade him farewell as I left the classroom, and rushed off to my next class.

 **Author's Note: I'm so sorry that I haven't posted anything in a really, really, really long time. I've been having to deal with school and homework. I'm getting a lot more homework than I did last year in high school. On top of that, if you've made it to the end of this chapter, you'll notice that some of the writing isn't as smooth as other parts, and that's part of the factor that I had writer's block. I tend to have writer's block during the day, but then the creative side of my brain wakes up at night. That's the time when I'm able to write the best that I can. As always, I would love on this story. I would prefer constructive criticism instead of mean comments. Thank you for your patience!**

 **~ Dark Phoenix**


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